Gwenn A. Nusbaum Scholarship

Gwenn A. Nusbaum, Scholarship Founder

Struck by Walt Whitman’s enduring significance today, Nusbaum states, “I believe that if Whitman weighed in on AI’s capacity to write poetry, he might scoff at the notion that such technology can ever eclipse that which exists within the depths of oneself, derived from attachment-based (right brain) experience, from witnessing, from intergenerational influence, from stream of consciousness (at which Whitman excelled), from the complexities of ‘containing multitudes,’ from falling apart and healing, from that which is embodied—sensorily rich as the scent of newly mowed ‘leaves of grass.’ At its richest level, the universality of poetry has the capacity to transcend borders as well as transform us. Then we must change our lives (think Rilke), if not the lives of others!”

Nusbaum’s love of poetry evolved early in life. She earned a B.A. in Psychology—with nearly equal credits in English—from Hofstra University, then cultivated the craft of writing poetry through an ongoing process of attending workshops, readings, and writing poems. Of decisive value to her evolution as an artist, was her long-term mentoring relationship with the late poet and memoirist, Colette Inez. Nusbaum’s poems have appeared in print and on-line poetry journals for which she received a Pushcart Nomination and Honorary Mention. She received a Gradiva Nomination for a poem published in a psychoanalytic journal. Nusbaum’s poetry chapbook, “Normal War,” is displayed at The Poet’s House in Manhattan.

Nusbaum holds a Master of Social Work from New York University, along with postgraduate certifications in several areas of psychotherapeutic interventions. Her specialty work with women having histories of childhood sexual traumas is published in field journals. In 1990, when women were becoming more disclosive about childhood sexual abuse, Nusbaum formed supportive psychotherapy groups for these individuals. She then developed training forums on this subject and presented her papers internationally. Retired from her forty-year psychoanalytic and teaching practice, Gwenn continues to work with clients through her coaching, consulting, and mentoring service.

Established in 2021, Nusbaum founded the Gwenn A. Nusbaum/WWBA Scholarship. She is grateful for ongoing collaboration and support from WWBA. Nusbaum extends special thanks to Executive Director Caitlyn Shea, former Executive Director and Honorary Trustee Cynthia Shor, Trustee donors Jack Coulehan, M.D. and Honorary Trustee Jeffrey Gould, as well as the administrative staff. She especially acknowledges Trustee Robert Savino who has been an integral and insightful presence on the Scholarship Advisory Committee from the outset. Nusbaum is deeply honored to read poetry from so many committed and promising writers. She encourages “poets to come” to write with faith, practice, and integrity!

Robert Savino (born April 24, 1948, Jamaica, NY) is a native Long Island poet, Suffolk County Poet Laureate 2015–2017, Board Member at the Walt Whitman Birthplace and at the Long Island Poetry & Literature Repository Center. He is the winner of the 2008 Oberon Poetry Prize, Association of Italian American Educators – Cristoforo Colombo Award for Literary Leadership (2019), and Town of Islip Italian American Heritage Award for Visual & Performing Arts – in Literature (2019). Robert was first inspired by Blake and Whitman in the sixties when everything became not as ordinary as it appeared and he began a life sentence in a metaphoric mind.

His poetry has been widely published in journals, anthologies, and online, including The Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Long Island Quarterly, Mobius, Negative Capability, The North American Review and Sport Literate; and his poems have been written for art and music. One of the poems, “October’s Opal,” was composed by Yung Shen Hsaio as a four-instrument musical ensemble piece and presented at the 2017 International Rostrum of Composers and Conservatorio Vincenzo Bellini, Palermo, Italy.

Robert is co-editor of two bilingual collections of Italian Americans Poets, No Distance Between Us – Italian American Poets of Long Island and No Distance Between Us – The Next Collection – Italian American Poets of New York State. His books include Fireballs of an Illuminated Scarecrow, Inside a Turtle Shell and I’m Not the Only One Here. No Distance Between Us (Nessuna Distanza Tra Noi) is scheduled to become a trilogy of Italian American poetry in a cultural tribute to Dante Aligheri. Inside a Turtle Shell, a diverse journey of paths crossed, lost and found, was selected as the second collection in the three-volume Turtle Island Series (Allbook Books).

Robert lives in West Islip, NY, with his wife and enjoys the role of poetry mentor.

Ms. Cynthia Shor is an Honorary WWBA Trustee and served as Executive Director of the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association (WWBA) from 2007 – 2024. Leading up to this position, Ms. Shor was a WWBA Board Member for three years, and served for over a decade in the roles of program committee member, poetry teacher for school programs, and head judge for the annual student poetry writing contest.  

She received her BA from NYU and MA in Literature from American University, and achieved PhD Candidacy at the NYU Steinhardt School of Education.  During her first doctoral year at NYU in 1995, she was selected as a Teaching Fellow and studied at Oxford University, England.  She returned to teach graduate and undergraduate poetry and literature courses in the Steinhardt School from 1995-2006 wherein she received the Teaching Excellence Award.  She is a member of Kappa Delta Pi, the educational honor society.  She also taught memoir, poetry writing and literature courses in the Great Neck Adult Education Program, and her course, “The Interpretation of Literature” was selected for the David Rauch Memorial Seminar Award. She has done volunteer literacy tutoring, and as a writing coach she has facilitated the writing process and publication of articles, memoirs, and books for her clients.  Ms. Shor is an active Alumna of NYU and serves on the College of Arts & Science Alumni Board as Associate Director and past Vice-President. 

A published poet, Ms. Shor was a Poet in Residence with New York City’s Teachers & Writers Collaborative, and taught poetry writing in over 40 elementary and high schools throughout NYC and Long Island regions.  Her classes inspired a multitude of student poetry anthologies.

From 1996-2024, Shor managed and directed the annual WWBA Student Poetry Writing Contest developing it from a local Long Island contest to include an international audience.  She is the Editor of “Legacy,” the 2024 inaugural anthology of award-winning student poets. 

In 2018, Shor supervised the $160,000 Exhibit Renovation for the Visitors Center, managed by former Trustee President William T. Walter, PhD, and together they secured the capital funding from The Gardiner Foundation and Parks & Trails NY.  In 2019, Shor managed the year-long programs for Whitman’s Bicentennial Birthday Celebration at the Birthplace celebrating Walt’s 200^th year (1819-1892). A main event was The Inaugural Whitman International Conference which brought participants from 6 countries and 10 American states to Whitman’s Birthplace to explore Whitman’s continuing impact on literary and social issues.

Ms. Shor secured two major Whitman book collections enlarging the Association archives to hold the second largest Whitman collection next to the Library of Congress.  She was responsible for the 2014 designation of the Whitman Birthplace as a “Literary Landmark” by United for Libraries Literary Landmarks Register.  That same year, Shor secured from a fifth-generation Whitman descendant the donation of one (of two) historic and priceless Whitman Family Bibles which also preserved a lock of Whitman’s mother’s hair.  In 2022, Shor arranged for a sixth-generation Whitman nephew to join the Association Board.

Shor has two adult children and five grandchildren.  She married David Church in 2018, and retired from her role as Executive Director in 2024.  They reside in their home in Greenville, SC, and maintain an apartment in Des Moines, Iowa, where Shor was born and where her extended family still resides. Her favorite Whitman poem is A Child Went Forth which describes Walt as child emerging from his Birthplace farmhouse and becoming imprinted with the wonders of his environment.  Like Whitman, she became imprinted with the Birthplace wonders, also.